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Caca Dolce: Essays from a Lowbrow Life.

Martin, Chelsea (author).

Martin’s honest writing (Mickey, 2016) exists above the confines of fear and social norms. She’ll barf up quart after quart of gourmet pizza to locate a missing tooth. She’ll tell readers how it feels when your mother moves in with your biological father’s brother. She admits that as a child, she was pressured into “having sex” with her cousin, and effortlessly conjures the colossal relief that comes with discovering that lying on top of one another fully clothed is not, in fact, sexual intercourse. She is gross, masculine, thrilled by vandalism, and a breath of pure oxygen in a literary environment that often shies away from female grit. Set against her upbringing in dry Clearlake, California, her writing is sweaty, uncomfortable, and enchanting. Her essays follow her chronological coming-of-age, beginning with an elementary-school-age sexual arousal to a viewing of Child’s Play, and ending with her young-adult decision to cut her father out of her life. She taps into the consciousness of her past selves with precision and care, respecting the integrity and desires of those younger women. A sure hit for fans of Sara Benincasa’s Agorafabulous!(2012) and Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl (2014).

 Courtney Eathorne

This title has been recommended for young adult readers:

YA/General Interest: Martin is keenly in tune with her tween and teenage selves, and her writing will speak to teens in a genuine way. —Courtney Eathorne